Managing automation: employment, inequality and ethics in the digital age

This discussion paper from IPPR argues that public policy should seek to accelerate automation to reap the productivity benefits, while building new institutions to ensure the dividends of technological change are broadly shared.

As machines become increasingly capable of performing tasks once thought to be the sole preserve of people, some commentators have raised the spectre of mass unemployment and profound economic disruption. Yet despite the growing capability of robots and artificial intelligence, we are not on the cusp of a 'post-human' economy. Automation will produce significant productivity gains that will reshape specific sectors and occupations. In aggregate, however, these gains are likely to be recirculated, with jobs reallocated rather than eliminated, economic output increased, and new sources of wealth created.

The critical challenge of automation is likely to be in distribution rather than production. If the benefits are fairly shared, automation can help build an economy where prosperity is underpinned by justice, with a more equitable distribution of wealth, income and working time. But there is no guarantee that this will occur.